The present invention relates to a vehicle front body structure of an automotive vehicle, and in particular, relates to a vehicle front body structure that comprises a pair of right-and-left front side frames and suspension tower portions to accommodate a suspension device.
Developments of properly transmitting a crash load acting on a front side frame extending in a longitudinal direction to a vehicle rear portion have been conducted for a vehicle front body structure of an automotive vehicle in order to improve a safety against a vehicle crash.
In a conventional structure, the impact load is mainly transmitted to a body frame that is connected to a rear end of the front side frame and located at a vehicle lower portion. Herein, the impact load is not transmitted to a vehicle upper portion, so the front side frame may bend upward at its base portion near a dash panel. As a result, there is a concern that an energy absorption of the front side frame with its axial compression could not be properly attained.
Accordingly, a vehicle front body structure that is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-335619, for example, has been proposed. According to this structure, there is provided a rigidity member that extends upward along a wheel apron so as to interconnect the front side frame and an apron member, so that the crash load acting on the front side frame can be transmitted to the apron member located at the vehicle upper portion.
Meanwhile, the front side frame generally has an engine mount thereon for supporting a power plant including an engine. In particular, in a case of a vehicle equipped with a laterally-disposed power plant (an engine output shaft is disposed in a vehicle width direction), the engine mount is generally located in front of the suspension tower portion.
Herein, in a case where the rigidity member disclosed in the above-described patent publication is provided, the engine mount may interfere with the rigidity member and therefore there would be necessity to change a shape of this rigidity member to avoid the interference with the engine mount. Thus, there is a concern the crash energy could not be properly transmitted to the vehicle upper portion.